Category Archives: Genetic medicine

Cities and states across the United States are looking to expand coronavirus testing as part of efforts to emerge from lockdowns, but two major barriers remain: how to screen huge portions of the population, and how to do so quickly.

Antigen testing, which can offer faster results with less lab work, is the newest idea beginning to take hold.

"We have to have a breakthrough innovation in testing," Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, said in an interview Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press." "We have to be able to detect antigen rather than constantly trying to detect the actual live virus or the viral particles itself, and really move into antigen testing."

But antigen tests are not a single fix for the widespread testing shortages. There are currently no FDA-approved coronavirus antigen tests, and existing antigen tests for other viruses have their faults. But experts say these tools could become part of the broader solution.

Antigen tests are designed to detect viral proteins which, in the case of this coronavirus, would come from the spikes that coat the outside surface of the virus that trigger an immune response in the body.

At present, the main way to screen for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is through whats known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. These tests look for the coronavirus genetic material in a sample, but since the viral RNA is so tiny, it needs to be "amplified" or copied millions of times in a lab to get a result.

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"Theyre much more complicated to do, but PCR tests are the most sensitive," said Dr. Pedro Piedra, a professor of molecular virology and microbiology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Though accurate, PCR testing is both resource and time intensive.

"Many of the current tests require multiple steps, manual pipetting of reaction components, and very accurate pipetting skills," Dr. Marie-Louise Landry, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, said in an email. "There are large instruments that can automate much of the PCR process and have a higher throughput, but these may still only do 300-400 samples in an eight-hour shift."

This makes it difficult to significantly ramp up PCR testing throughout the country.

"There will never be the ability on a [PCR] test to do 300 million tests a day or to test everybody before they go to work or to school, but there might be with the antigen test," Birx said April 17 during a coronavirus task force briefing.

Both antigen and PCR tests require nasal swabs, but antigen testing is simpler and could be done by primary care physicians. Patients would also receive results in less than an hour.

Antigen testing exists for the flu, in which doctors can administer "rapid influenza diagnostic tests" that deliver results within 15 to 30 minutes. Any breakthroughs in antigen testing for the coronavirus would hope to have similar outcomes.

"You dont need specialized personnel to run the test, its cost-effective and you get rapid results thats what youre looking for here," said Dr. Aron Lukacher, chair of the department of microbiology and immunology at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

But antigen testing is not as sensitive as PCR testing, which means there is a greater chance that antigen tests could deliver false negative results. In other words, a patient could be infected but an antigen test is just not sensitive enough to detect it.

For some antigen tests, the rate of false negatives can be anywhere from 5 to 10 percent, according to Lukacher, which makes them less reliable. PCR testing, though not perfect, is thought to be more finely tuned because amplifying the virus genetic material also means that smaller amounts of the virus can be detected.

Antigen tests can also be challenging to develop because scientists need to be intimately familiar with the virus structure and biology in order to know what immune response will be triggered by these foreign substances.

"PCR tests have the advantage that you can test for many pathogens, not just one virus," Piedra said. "Antigen tests have to be built for specific viruses."

Health officials are hopeful that significant strides can be made in designing new diagnostic tools. Earlier this month, the federal governments Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority awarded more than $710,000 to a Pennsylvania-based company called OraSure Technologies to develop a rapid coronavirus test using saliva samples. Other researchers at E25Bio, a Massachusetts-based biotech company, are working on a coronavirus antigen test that could deliver results in 15 minutes.

Still, Lukacher said rapid antigen tests are unlikely to be a silver bullet for cities looking to restart their economies and emerge from lockdowns. Rather, any breakthroughs in antigen testing will likely have to be scaled up in tandem with PCR testing in order for health officials to determine how much the virus has spread in a community.

"The bottom line is we would want both rapid screening and the ability to test by PCR," Lukacher said. "All of these things have to be done in conjunction with one another."

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What is antigen testing? How a new test could help track the coronavirus outbreak - NBCNews.com

Mastermind Genomic Search Engine Identifies Approved and Off-Label Treatments Found Across the Medical Literature

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (PRWEB) April 28, 2020

Genomenon announced today that the latest release of the Mastermind Genomic Search Engine includes the ability to search by therapy. Mastermind users can now query the comprehensive database of genomic evidence for over 180,000 drugs, therapies, and other interventions.

This new offering furthers Genomenon's ability to catalogue a complete dataset of all "Genomic Associations" supported by medical evidence. These associations help clinical labs more accurately and rapidly diagnose patients, and pharmaceutical companies make ground-breaking discoveries in the effective treatment cancer and other genetic diseases. Mastermind was launched in 2017 with the ability to uncover associations between diseases, genes, and variants, and has since added ACMG/AMP classification, phenotypes, and now therapies. Each new component of association data increases the power of Mastermind to allow users to find genetic evidence, test or generate hypotheses, and draw clinical conclusions with confidence.

Searching by therapy provides significant value for oncologists making decisions on third-line therapies, where approved drugs or clinical trials are no longer effective for a cancer patient. Finding a comprehensive list of all therapies in the medical research tied to a cancer patient's genetic make-up is invaluable for treating these late-stage cancer patients.

The new search capability is also highly useful for clinicians making diagnostic and treatment decisions for patients with rare diseases. There are currently less than 800 FDA approved therapies for over 7,000 rare diseases, leaving many patients without an approved treatment option. In these cases, clinicians are required to scour the medical literature to find therapies associated with the patient's genetic profile; a time-consuming and often fruitless task.

About Genomenon

Genomenon is a genomic health IT company that connects patient DNA with the billions of dollars spent on research to help doctors diagnose and cure cancer patients and babies with rare diseases.

The Mastermind Genomic Search Engine is used by hundreds of genetic labs worldwide to accelerate diagnosis, increase diagnostic yield, and assure repeatability in reporting genetic testing results.

Mastermind Genomic Landscapes inform pharmaceutical and bio-pharma companies on precision medicine development, deliver genomic biomarkers for clinical trial target selection, and support CDx regulatory submissions with empirical evidence.

Genomenon was named 2020 Global Company of the Year in Clinical Genomics Interpretation by Frost & Sullivan.

For more information, visit Genomenon.com.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: https://www.prweb.com/releases/genomenons_mastermind_now_finds_therapies_associated_with_genetic_drivers/prweb17078524.htm

Original post:
Genomenon's Mastermind Now Finds Therapies Associated with Genetic Drivers - Benzinga

Christian Drosten admits the pandemic surprised him, despite having worked on coronaviruses for 17 years.

By Kai KupferschmidtApr. 28, 2020 , 12:25 PM

Sciences COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.

BERLINOn a recent Monday morning, Christian Drosten said goodbye to his wife and 2-year-old son in front of his apartment block and got on his bicycle for his daily commute to the Charit University Hospital here.

It looked like a scene from normal daily life. But of course it wasnt. His wife was going for a walk with their child instead of bringing him to the day care center, which was closed. The Berlin streets Drosten traversed were eerily quiet, most shops were closed, and some people on the sidewalks wore masks. Charits Institute of Virology, which Drosten heads, was studying exotic viruses, as always, but now one of those pathogens was killing patients in a hospital a few blocks away.

And instead of teaching virology to a few hundred students, Drosten now addresses hundreds of thousands of anxious Germans. Twicea week around 10 a.m., he sets a blue microphone on his desk, puts on headphones, and waits for a science journalist from German radio station NDR Info to call him. For the next 40 minutes, he answers questions about vaccines, respiratory droplets, school closures, or masks. The podcast, simply titled Coronavirus Update, has made Drosten the face, or rather the voice, of the pandemic in Germany. More than 1 million people regularly download what has become the countrys most popular podcast.

Drosten is one of the worlds foremost experts on coronaviruses; his career has closely tracked their emergence as a global threat. Now, he is also a popularif nerdyhero. In one widely shared meme, his face, with a pair of horn-rimmed glasses photoshopped on it, sits next to three movie stills of actor Jeff Goldblum, to whom he bears a passing resemblance. He has fought dinosaurs, body snatchers, and aliens, the caption reads, so Ill trust him with this virus too. Drostens cult status reminds Holger Wormer, a journalism professor at the Technical University of Dortmund, of Stephen Hawkings: Many people may not understand everything he says. But it is comforting to listen to someone explaining what is going on.

His calm, considered communication has earned Drosten widespread appreciation. Its a stroke of luck that we have someone here in Germany who is recognized worldwide as an expert on coronaviruses and who is willing and able to communicate so well, says Volker Stollorz, head of the German Science Media Center. Hes good at pointing out the limits of his own knowledge, Stollorz adds: Excellent researchers usually know very well where their expertise ends. On 20 April, the German Research Foundationannouncedit was awarding Drosten a one-off prize for outstanding science communication during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Christian Drostens career paralleled the emergence of coronaviruses as a serious human threat. He worked on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and in January, his lab developed the first test for SARS-CoV-2, the new pandemic virus.

N. DESAI/SCIENCE

Drosten also explains coronaviruses to politicians. He has advised German Chancellor Angela Merkelthey chatted by phone for about an hour recently, he saysand Minister of Health Jens Spahn. He has been called Germanys coronavirus-explainer-in-chief and the coronavirus pope, the German equivalent of a coronavirus czar.

Yet colleagues describe Drosten, 47, as an unlikely character for his new role. He is not someone who seeks out this kind of attention, says Isabella Eckerle, a former lab member who now runs a laboratory for emerging viral diseases at the University of Geneva. Drosten says he wouldnt have stepped into the limelight if SARS-CoV-2 werent exactly the kind of virus he has spent most of his life studying. If this were influenza, for instance, I would not be doing this, he says.

Drostens coronavirus career effectively began on Saturday, 15 March 2003, when a 32-year-old doctor from Singapore named Leong Hoe Nam was taken off a plane in Frankfurt, Germany, and taken to the citys university clinic. Leong had treated patients in Singapore before attending an infectious diseases course in New York City, and had developed symptoms consistent with an alarming new respiratory disease that was rapidly spreading in Asia. That same day, the World Health Organization (WHO) had christened the new disease severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

At the time, Drosten was building up a lab for molecular diagnostics at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany. The Frankfurt virologists sent Leongs blood and other samples to Drosten, hoping he could help identify what was believed to be a new virus. But tests for everything from adenoviruses to paramyxoviruses came back negative.

About 1 week later, however, when Drosten was in Frankfurt to defend his Ph.D. thesis, the same virologists told him they had managed to grow the virus in a petri dish. Drosten realized this would allow him to use a new catch-all method he had developed for identifying unknown viruses, which amplified viral genetic material so it could be sequenced and checked against online databases. Drosten picked up a sample, then drove the 5 hours back to Hamburg in his old Opel and went straight to his lab. After a few days with little sleep, he had a small part of the new virus genome. The closest match was a cattle coronavirus that doesnt infect people. My first thought was, maybe it is some kind of contamination from the FCS, the fetal calf serum used to grow cells in the lab, Drosten recalls.

But he and his colleague Stephan Gnther quickly realized they were seeinga deadly new member of the family. At the time, medical students learned hardly anything about coronaviruses, Drosten says. The only two known to cause disease in humans, named OC43 and 229E, accounted for a small percentage of human colds every winter. This new virus was a very different beast. SARS killed 10% of the almost 8000 people it infected in nearly 30 countries before it was contained.

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the University of Hong Kong realized the culprit was a coronavirus around the same time. But Drosten was the first to develop a diagnostic test, and he distributed the protocol freely on the internet. It earned him international recognition as well as the Federal Cross of Merit, an important German award. (Leong survived his bout with SARS and is now treating COVID-19 patients himself. He says he has not met Drosten, but reads every paper coming from his lab. Truly, he is an incredible scientist, with out-of-the-box thinking, Leong wrote in an email.)

Drosten grew up on a pig farm in northern Germany. He studied medicine in Frankfurt, the first person in his family to go to university, and rose quickly in German academia. After his stint in Hamburg, he became a full professor at the University of Bonn and, at 35, head of the Institute of Virology. His research interests were ideal preparation for COVID-19. He established a system for probing the function of the SARS virus genes and started to study viral evolution, looking for close relatives of human viruses in animals. Inone such study, his team discovered that mumps, which like measles is caused by a paramyxovirus, had jumped to humans from bats. They also showed that Nipah, another bat-borne virus, originated in Africa, even though it was discovered in Malaysia after hundreds of pig farmers there developed encephalitis in 1999.

Scientists discovered two new coronaviruses in the years after the SARS outbreak, both of which caused the common cold. Then in 2012, researchers isolated a new coronavirus that spelled greater danger. It came from a 60-year-old man in Saudi Arabia who had developed pneumonia. Intrigued, Drosten geared his research to the new agent, which was soon called Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus. In 2013, hereportedon a wealthy 73-year-old patient from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, who was treated for MERS in Germany and died. Relatives said the patient had cared for a sick racing camel before falling illthe first sign that camels might be involved.

Saudi Arabia, which had the most MERS cases and a multimillion-dollar camel racing industry, initially scoffed at the link. We dont think camels are involved, thenDeputy Minister of Health Ziad Memish said. But work from Drostens group and others soonconfirmed the suspicion. Memish and Drosten teamed up to study the new disease, and Drostens Bonn lab became a leading MERS hub. It developed a test to detect the virus RNA and then an antibody assay that helped show the virus had likely been infecting people in the region for decades.

The research yielded some unexpected insights. While looking for coronaviruses in camels, the scientistsfound pathogens closely related to 229E, one of the common cold coronaviruses, suggesting that virus, too, originated in camels. It was a warning sign, Drosten said at the time, that MERS could follow the same course as SARS, which had originated in bats, and evolve to become a true human disease. Animal coronaviruses, it seemed, posed a particular threat of sparking a pandemic.

Christian Drosten (center) at a March press conference with German Minister of Health Jens Spahn (right) and Petra Gastmeier, director of the Charit Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine (left)

When another severe respiratory syndrome emerged this year, Drostenwho moved to the prestigious Charit University Hospital in 2017was prepared. After seeing the first rumors about a coronavirus in China online, Victor Corman, who leads the labs virus diagnostics group, began to search existing sequences of SARS-related coronaviruses, isolated from bats, for regions that were the same across different viruses. He was trying to guess what parts of a new SARS-like coronavirus might look like, in order to create a test. Based on those sequences, he designed and ordered 20 pairs of so-called primers, little snippets of DNA, that pair with a pathogens genome, so that it can be amplified and detected.

When Chinese researchers finally published the genome of the new virus from Wuhan on 10 January, Corman used the primers that best matched the viral sequence and prepared the diagnostic test almost immediately. WHO posted Cormans protocol on its website on 13 January, allowing countries around the world to produce a test themselves and detect imported cases of the new virus. Drosten predicted the test would also help scientists understand whether the virus was able to spread from human to human.

It was.

Three and a half months later, SARS-CoV-2, as it is now known, has traveled to all corners of the world, infecting millions of people and killing well over 200,000. It has forced countries from Austria to Zambia to shut down their economies and societies, causing immense suffering and igniting heated debates about the right way to deal with the threat.

Drosten concedes it has surprised him, despite his 17 years of work on coronaviruses and his knowledge of the threat they pose. I didnt think that SARS would come back like this, he saysas a virus that is both deadly and much more transmissible. It is adept at infecting cells of the upper respiratory tract, from which a cough can expel it, and unlike SARSbut like the fluit can spread before symptoms emerge. Thats pretty astonishing, Drosten says.

Drosten says a key reason for SARS-CoV-2s success may be a tiny part of the spike, the protein that sits on the virus surface and makes it look like a crown when seen through a microscope, giving coronaviruses their name. The spike protein attaches to a receptor on human cells called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. Before the virus can enter the cell, however, a part of the protein has to be cleaved. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein cleaves more readily than equivalent proteins in other coronaviruses, because it has evolved something called a polybasic cleavage site, which Drosten likens to the perforations on a notepad that make it easier to rip off a page. That feature may explain the virus rapid spread from cell to cell, he says.

Drosten started to warn of the new virus potential in TV interviews in January, but quickly grew exasperated. After long interviews, journalists often used one short quote that failed to convey the immense threat, he says. I actually called up some of them afterwards and told them: You are missing the boat on this. So when a producer from NDR asked Drosten in February whether he was willing to answer a few questions every day, his answer was swift: Traveling at the moment, like the idea, we can start Monday. (Drosten recently reduced the frequency to twice a week.)

Many people may not understand everything he says. But it is comforting to listen to someone explaining what is going on.

Theshows conversationis easygoing, and Drosten occasionally offers advice. In March, he told listeners to avoid beer from the tap, because glasses might not be cleaned thoroughly. When I go to a bar, I always order beer in a bottle, for many years now, he said. If Drosten is himself emotionally shaken by the pandemic and the way it is changing the world, he doesnt show it.

Drosten also seems unfazed by his newfound fame, but he gets annoyed when the focus drifts away from the science. He chided political journalists who asked whether important soccer matches and Germanys sacred Oktoberfest would need to be canceled, saying that was not his expertise. He bristles at stories describing his sensual lips and tousled hair. I talk about science, he says. I dont want to read about my haircut. Wormer says Drosten is doing a great job talking about the science, but is a tad nave about what interests the media. For some people going to the stadium is important and you just have to accept that, he says. For a public figure, a bit of mockery comes with the territory as well, he says.

Drosten has balked at suggestions that he has become a political player. He seemed genuinely angry after a spate of stories suggesting virologists had taken the reins of German government. If that doesnt change, we are reaching the point where science has to start an orderly retreat, he said on the podcast. His role as a political adviser is small, he told Science. Its not like Im in and out of ministries all day. When a German newspaper ran his photo under the headline Is this our new chancellor? he bristled at the idea.

Drosten receives hundreds of messages every day, most of them benign, he says. Old ladies somewhere telling me to remember to eat properly. That kind of thing. But he also gotdeath threats from people holding him responsible for the shutdown. The police are monitoring his inbox now, he says. It hasnt kept other virologists from starting their own coronavirus podcasts, including HIV researcher Hendrik Streeck, Drostens successor at the University of Bonn. A late-night show made fun of the phenomenon in a segment called Who let the docs out and German tabloidBildran a poll asking Which virologist do you trust the most? (Drosten won.)

Drosten feels most at home concentrating on his research. Virologist Marion Koopmans of Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands recalls seeing him during a technical planning meeting of a large research consortium, huddled at the back of the room with two or three others. Probably writing a Nature paper, she says. He doesnt like the blah blah blah.

But Drosten wants his research to save lives. Large cardboard boxes in his office hold supplies of two medicines waiting to be tried in the clinic. One is camostat mesylate, a pancreatitis drug approved in Japan that Drosten and others found can prevent both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 from entering cells. The other drug is niclosamide, used to treat tapeworms and other parasites. In a paper posted on the preprint server bioRxiv this month, Drostens colleague Marcel Mller showed that SARS-CoV-2 interferes with the cellular recycling process called autophagy. Its unclear how exactly that benefits the virus, but niclosamide counters the interference. Treatment with the compound reduced SARS-CoV-2s growth in cell culture by 70%, the authors write. Drosten hopes to start to enroll patients soon in a trial to test a combination of the two drugs.

For the moment, Drosten is learning what he can from sequencing virus samples and probing the pathogen in the biosafety level 3 lab in the institutes basement. He is also interested in how SARS-CoV-2 made its way from animals to humans. Hes fascinated by the role livestock appear to play as a bridge between bats, which are coronaviruses natural hosts, and humans. 229E and MERS came from camels, OC43 from cattle. SARS infected civets and also raccoon dogs, raised by the millions in Chinas fur industry. SARS-CoV-2s origin is unclear. But I dont believe that the answer will be three infected civet cats being sold in some fish market, Drosten says. There is going to be an industry involved in this somehow. He wonders whether raccoon dogs could be an intermediate host. I would love to take samples from 20 of these farms, he says.

Four months after the emergence of the pandemic, Germany is widely seen as a success story in Europe. The country tests widely for the virusthanks in part to that first assay, developed in Drostens laband has managed to keep case numbers low. Now, as in many countries, pressure is building to reopen shopping malls, bars, and restaurants. Drosten says this is partly because of a preliminary study by Streeck, whoannounced at a 9 April press conferencethat in one hard-hit German town, 15% of the population is already immune to COVID-19, suggesting the death rate is much lower than widely believed. The study has not been published, and Drosten says the data should not have been shared without any scientific scrutiny. He is worried some German states are moving too fast, which could lead to an explosive resurgence of the virus.

That concern has led him to depart from his science-only strategy. In this situation, for once, I have to express my opinion a little bit here in this podcast, he said on 22 April. Discussing press reports of shopping malls full of people, he said, Its sad to see that we may be in the process here in Germany of completely gambling away the advantage we have had.

With COVID-19 drugs and vaccines unavailable, such words may be the most powerful tool to curb the spread of the virus. And whether or not he likes it, Drostens podcast has given him real influence, says Marcel Fratzscher, head of DIW Berlin, an economic research institute. At this point, if Drosten says it is too early, that carries as much weight as Merkel saying it.

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How the pandemic made this virologist an unlikely cult figure - Science Magazine

The search term adopt a healthcare worker has soared in popularity on Google in recent times as part of heartwarming campaigns to support frontline workers.

But one fundie from Pengana Capitalhas decided to take the interesting step of adopting a bunch of healthcare stocks developing innovative vaccines and treatments that could turn the tide against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

James McDonald, Portfolio Manager of the Pengana High Conviction Equities Fund, has been investing in the medical space for over 20 years. He revealed at a recent webinar that he used the downturn in March to bump up the funds healthcare exposure to a whopping 60%, from 40% previously.

McDonalds rationale for such a significant exposure is that while COVID-19 will bend and reshape industries and consumer behaviours in unpredictable ways, the need for healthcare will always remain and short-term headwinds such as deferring elective surgeries will inevitably pass.

He then dove into his top healthcare positions including 2 recently added, and how theyre tackling the worlds big problems. Two companies are ASX listed, while one is an American name making headlines.

ASX-listed Genetic Signatures is a new addition to the Pengana portfolio. The medical diagnostics producer recently developed a SARS-CoV-2 testing kit which has been approved by regulators here and in Europe, and is awaiting authorisation from the U.S.

While this means the company will benefit from a pickup in COVID-19 testing demand, its a smaller part of a bigger, more exciting story for GSS. McDonald says the installation of its testing products in hospitals and labs should help raise awareness of its other products that can detect gastroenteritis pathogens, numerous respiratory infections and antibiotic-resistant superbugs. These approved tests have a global opportunity of over $800 million against the backdrop of a broader medical diagnostics market growing at ~8% per annum. Plus, the company has a market value of $240 million with $40 million cash in the bank.

Nuclear medicine small-cap Telix Pharmaceuticals, whose Chief Medical Officer joined from Cochlear, is another company McDonald likes. Telixs market cap is $280 million and it holds $35 million of cash in the bank.

The company is developing a pipeline of molecularly-targeted radiation products to image and treat renal, prostate and brain cancer and has attracted the attention of oncology societies in Europe and the U.S. McDonald added that the Food and Drug Administration gave the company a glowing review about the efficacy of their prostate cancer imaging product (illumet) and Telix is hoping for final approvals by year-end.

Telixs prostate cancer imaging product has already been tested on 12,000 people at over 100 facilities and is currently being distributed by drug wholesaler Cardinal Health for US$300 per dose.

The other new addition is Gilead, a US$100 billion American healthcare giant and one of the frontrunners in developing a treatment for patients with COVID-19 with its Ebola drug remdesivir.

The effectiveness of the drug has been the subject of mixed press reports recently. On 16 April, a University of Chicago phase-3 trial showed rapid recoveries in patients with COVID-19, but about a week later leaked draft documents from the WHO suggested a trial in China highlighted that the drug had no benefit. But Gilead contends that trial was stopped early and proved inconclusive.

McDonald suggests investors turn their attention to trial results on patients with moderate symptoms due in late May, as a test on monkeys who were infected with COVID-19 had suggested that remdesivir could be effective where the disease is severe. Either way, he reckons any success around COVID-19 should only be seen as icing on the cake, as Gilead's powerhouse in HIV treatment keeps powering and it looks to find more innovations.

Other stocks

McDonald says hes not all in on healthcare and is positioning himself in other recovery names, such as Uber Technologies (NYS:UBER). He believes that the Ubers competitors will likely be hit much harder by the downturn but for the recovery, believes that consumers will prefer to move around in cars over public transport to keep social distancing. Hes also kept 20% of the portfolio in cash for other opportunities.

If you are interested in watching the full webinar, you can access it here

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Why this fundie is putting 60% of his portfolio in health stocks - Livewire Markets

Celebrating a birthday during quarantine might not be fun, but one mother in Kentucky is asking people to send her three-year old son, Abel Helson, birthday cards while he fights against a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) calledPure Erythroid Leukemia.

Concern over Helsons health started in October, when his family noticed his left eye was significantly drooping. At first it was brushed off by their family eye doctor, but the next month Helson started suffering from arm paralysis and difficulty moving his neck. In November, doctors performed a CT scan on Helson which showed he had three masses on his brain as well as one mass on both his neck and lower spine. He underwent surgery to remove the tumor on his neck.

Related:Writer Nora Ephron Quietly Fought Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)- The Exciting Advances In Treatment

After months of scans, Helson was ultimately diagnosed withPure Erythroid Leukemia, which is a subtype of AML.

Dr. Mikkael Sekeres breaks down what defines acute myeloid leukemia (AML)

Helsons birthday is on May 18, and since he will be spending it in the hospital, his mother shared an address with local news station WBKO where people can send Helson birthday cards to lift his spirits during treatment. People can send cards to:

Abel Helson206 E Third AveCentral City, KY 42330

In dozens of conversations with SurvivorNet, researchers have explained how patients are diagnosed with AML and what symptoms may be present.Dr. Gail Roboz, a medical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, told SurvivorNet that AML symptoms may present themselves asshortness of breath, decreased exercise tolerance, unexplained bruising, or infections. In some cases, patients may have no symptoms of AML at all, and therefore are diagnosed unexpectedly during a routine health evaluation.

Related:Remembering LFO Lead Singer Rich Cronin Who Died From Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) The Incredible New Treatments Saving Lives

Once patients are given an AML diagnosis, Dr. Roboz says that its important to understand which subgroup of AML you fall into.Studying cytogenetics, which is a branch of genetics that looks at DNA structure, is key in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) research and treatment.Through cytogenetics, physicians will examine the types of chromosomes within patients in order to conclude into which subgroup of AML they fit, which is crucial in determining the best treatment they should receive. These prognostic subgroups include cytogenetic information, molecular genetic information, and mutations.

Dr. Gail Roboz explains how subgroups of AML are determined

This is something thats actually becoming very well known to patients because there are initiatives that are trying to have the patient be their own advocate and to say well, what is my subgroup of AML? What kind of AML do I have? Dr. Roboz says.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

Celebrating a birthday during quarantine might not be fun, but one mother in Kentucky is asking people to send her three-year old son, Abel Helson, birthday cards while he fights against a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) calledPure Erythroid Leukemia.

Concern over Helsons health started in October, when his family noticed his left eye was significantly drooping. At first it was brushed off by their family eye doctor, but the next month Helson started suffering from arm paralysis and difficulty moving his neck. In November, doctors performed a CT scan on Helson which showed he had three masses on his brain as well as one mass on both his neck and lower spine. He underwent surgery to remove the tumor on his neck.

After months of scans, Helson was ultimately diagnosed withPure Erythroid Leukemia, which is a subtype of AML.

Dr. Mikkael Sekeres breaks down what defines acute myeloid leukemia (AML)

Helsons birthday is on May 18, and since he will be spending it in the hospital, his mother shared an address with local news station WBKO where people can send Helson birthday cards to lift his spirits during treatment. People can send cards to:

Abel Helson206 E Third AveCentral City, KY 42330

In dozens of conversations with SurvivorNet, researchers have explained how patients are diagnosed with AML and what symptoms may be present.Dr. Gail Roboz, a medical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, told SurvivorNet that AML symptoms may present themselves asshortness of breath, decreased exercise tolerance, unexplained bruising, or infections. In some cases, patients may have no symptoms of AML at all, and therefore are diagnosed unexpectedly during a routine health evaluation.

Related:Remembering LFO Lead Singer Rich Cronin Who Died From Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) The Incredible New Treatments Saving Lives

Once patients are given an AML diagnosis, Dr. Roboz says that its important to understand which subgroup of AML you fall into.Studying cytogenetics, which is a branch of genetics that looks at DNA structure, is key in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) research and treatment.Through cytogenetics, physicians will examine the types of chromosomes within patients in order to conclude into which subgroup of AML they fit, which is crucial in determining the best treatment they should receive. These prognostic subgroups include cytogenetic information, molecular genetic information, and mutations.

Dr. Gail Roboz explains how subgroups of AML are determined

This is something thats actually becoming very well known to patients because there are initiatives that are trying to have the patient be their own advocate and to say well, what is my subgroup of AML? What kind of AML do I have? Dr. Roboz says.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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WASHINGTON (Mar 28, 2020) - An international clinical trial that used genetic testing to guide which antiplatelet medication was given to patients following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) did not meet its stated goal for cutting in half the incidence of serious adverse cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, in the year following the procedure. However, researchers reported a 34% reduction in these adverse events at one year, as well as a significant reduction in the number of events per patient, according to study results presented at the American College of Cardiologys Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC).

The primary endpoint of TAILOR-PCIthe largest cardiology trial to test the effectiveness of using genetic testing to guide treatment choicewas to demonstrate a 50% reduction at one year in the combined rate of death, heart attack, stroke, a blood clot in a stent (stent thrombosis) or a recurrent heart attack-like presentation. While the trial missed this mark, researchers observed a 34% drop in these events in the year following PCI. The trial also revealed a statistically significant 40% reduction in the total number of events per patient receiving genetically guided treatment compared with patients who received standard treatment.

Although these results fell short of the effect size that we predicted, they nevertheless provide a signal that offers support for the benefit of genetically guided therapy, with approximately one-third fewer adverse events in the patients who received genetically guided treatment compared with those who did not, said Naveen L. Pereira, MD, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and co-principal investigator of the study.

Pereira added that a post hoc analysis, performed after the researchers knew the studys results, found a nearly 80% reduction in the rate of adverse events in the first three months of treatment among patients who received genetically guided therapy compared with those who did not. This period immediately after PCI is when patients are at the highest risk for adverse events, he said.

We now know from clinical practice and other studies that antiplatelet drug therapy is critical during the first three months after PCI, he said. This finding suggests that the lions share of the benefit of genetically guided therapy may occur during this high-risk period. Because this wasnt a pre-planned analysis, we cant draw firm conclusions from it, but it merits further study.

Patients with arterial blockages who undergo PCIthe insertion of a stent or stents to prop arteries openare commonly prescribed the antiplatelet medication clopidogrel, along with aspirin, for a year after the procedure to help prevent blood clots that can cause heart attack, stroke and other complications. However, studies have suggested that people who have a genetic variant in a liver enzyme known as CYP2C19 are unable to fully metabolize clopidogrel, reducing the effectiveness of the medication and leaving them at increased risk of developing blood clots and serious adverse cardiovascular events. Such patients may be good candidates to receive alternative antiplatelet medication.

In the U.S., about 30% of people carry the genetic variant that makes them less capable of metabolizing and, hence, activating clopidogrel, Pereira said. The proportion increases to 50% among people of Asian heritage. A simple-to-perform genetic test can identify whether a patient carries the abnormality, Pereira said. However, no prospective clinical trials have shown that outcomes are better for patients who have the abnormality when the test is used to guide their treatment. For this reason, guidelines published by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association do not currently recommend that patients be tested for the abnormality before being prescribed clopidogrel, Pereira added.

The TAILOR-PCI trial was designed to fill this knowledge gap. The trial enrolled 5,302 patients who had been treated for an arterial blockage with one or more stents. Their median age was 62 years, and 75% were men. Patients were randomly assigned either to a group that was tested for the genetic variant affecting clopidogrel metabolism or to a group that received standard treatment without genetic testing. In the first group, 35% of patients were found to have the genetic variant and were prescribed another antiplatelet medication, ticagrelor, while those without it got clopidogrel. In the second group, everyone was prescribed clopidogrel. Patients were enrolled at 40 medical centers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and South Korea and followed for one year.

Among patients who carried the genetic variant, the primary endpoint occurred in 35 (4%) in the group that received genetically guided treatment, compared with 54 (5.9%) in the conventionally treated group at one year.

Pereira said that the reduction in the number of adverse events per patient also has important clinical implications. Multiple adverse events represent a higher burden on the patient, so it is encouraging to see a significant reduction in cumulative events with genetically guided therapy, he said.

Among patients with the genetic variant, there were no differences in the safety endpoint of TIMI major bleeding (fatal bleeding, bleeding in the brain or any bleeding that requires medical assessment or treatment) or minor bleeding between those receiving genetically guided treatment (16 patients, 1.9%) and those in the conventional treatment arm (14 patients, 1.6%) at one year.

Pereira said that recent improvements in the standard of care following PCI may have contributed to the trial not achieving its primary endpoint. When the TAILOR-PCI trial was designed in 2012, around 10% to 12% of patients who received a stent could be expected to have a major adverse event, such as a heart attack, stroke or stent thrombosis, within a year. Over the course of the trial, the standard of care evolved through greater use of drug-coated stents and other treatments, which reduced the expected rate of adverse events in a year to about 5%. This change in technology substantially improved care for patients, but at the same time may have made it more difficult for the trial to reach its goal of a 50% reduction in adverse events with the number of patients enrolled, Pereira said.

No special expertise in laboratory testing is required to perform the genetic test, Pereira said. In the trial, the tests were done by study coordinators who did not have a background in laboratory medicine and who were able to perform the tests in a consistent, reproducible fashion after receiving brief training.

The next step, he said, will be to analyze the cost effectiveness of genetically guided therapy. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has also funded an extended follow-up study to evaluate the effect of genotype guidance beyond the 12-month follow-up period of TAILOR PCI.

This study was funded by the Mayo Clinic in collaboration with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Spartan Bioscience, Inc, supplied the genetic tests used.

ACC.20/WCC will take place March 28-30, bringing together cardiologists and cardiovascular specialists from around the world to share the newest discoveries in treatment and prevention. Follow @ACCinTouch, @ACCMediaCenter and #ACC20/#WCCardio for the latest news from the meeting.

The American College of Cardiology envisions a world where innovation and knowledge optimize cardiovascular care and outcomes. As the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team, the mission of the College and its 54,000 members is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The ACC bestows credentials upon cardiovascular professionals who meet stringent qualifications and leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. The College also provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research through its world-renowned JACC Journals, operates national registries to measure and improve care and offers cardiovascular accreditation to hospitals and institutions. For more, visit acc.org.

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TAILOR-PCI: Using Genetic Testing to Guide Antiplatelet Therapy Post-PCI Misses Goal to Cut Rate of Cardiovascular Events in Half - Cath Lab Digest

Tentacle Hack

The next generation of genetic medicine may be inspired by a bizarre genetic trick that a small squid species uses to edit its own genome on the fly.

The longfin inshore squid can edit the RNA inside its nerve cells, Wired reports, meaning that it can drastically alter the behavior of its biological machinery as needed perhaps to help the animal rapidly adapt to new environments. Its a bizarre discovery, and one that could potentially lead to better genetic treatments for humans.

Researchers from the Marine Biological Laboratory found that the squid alters the RNA within its axons instead of the DNA within its nuclei, according to research published Monday in the journal Nucleic Acids Research. Thus far, its the only animal known to do so.

RNA editing is a hell of a lot safer than DNA editing, lead researcher Joshua Rosenthal told Wired. If you make a mistake, the RNA just turns over and goes away.

Because it happens outside the nucleus, RNA editing would be an improvement over modern genetic treatments, Wired reports. To gene-hack a patient with CRISPR, the new genetic information needs to breach not only a cells membrane but also the membrane of that cells nucleus to reach its DNA.

But it will be some time before medical doctors start to use the longfin inshore squids weird gene-hacks on people. For now, researchers still arent even sure why, exactly, the squid alters its genes.

READ MORE: Squids Gene-Editing Superpowers May Unlock Human Cures [Wired]

More on gene-hacking: George Church Told us Why Hes Listing Superhuman Gene Hacks

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Scientists Discover That a Squid Can Edit Its Own Genetic Code - Futurism

An epidemiologist answers the biggest questions she's getting about coronavirus. Wochit

SAN FRANCISCO At least eight strains of the coronavirus are making their way around the globe, creating a trail of death and disease that scientistsare tracking by their genetic footprints.

While much is unknown, hidden in the virus's unique microscopic fragments are clues to the origins of its original strain, how it behaves as it mutates and which strains are turning into conflagrations while others are dying out thanksto quarantine measures.

Huddled in once bustling and now almost empty labs, researchers who oversaw dozens of projects are instead focused on one goal:tracking the currentstrains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that cause the illness COVID-19.

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Labs around the world are turning their sequencing machines, most about the size of a desktop printer, to the task ofrapidly sequencing the genomes of virus samples taken frompeople sick with COVID-19.The information is uploaded to a website called NextStrain.org that shows how the virus is migrating and splitting into similarbut new subtypes.

While researcherscaution they'reonly seeing the tip of the iceberg, the tiny differences between the virus strains suggest shelter-in-place orders are working in some areas and thatno one strain of the virus ismore deadly than another. They also say it does not appear the strains will grow more lethal as theyevolve.

The virus mutates so slowly that the virus strains are fundamentally very similar to each other, said Charles Chiu, a professor of medicine and infectious disease at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

A map of the main known genetic variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 disease. The map is being kept on the nextstrain.org website, which tracks pathogen evolution.(Photo: nextstrain.org)

Investigation:How federal health officials mislead states and derailed the best chance at containment.

The SARS-CoV-2 virusfirst began causing illness in China sometimebetween mid-November and mid-December. Its genome is made up of about 30,000 base pairs. Humans, by comparison, have more than 3 billion. So fareven in the virus's most divergent strainsscientists have found only 11 base pair changes.

That makes iteasy to spot new lineages as they evolve, said Chiu.

The outbreaks are trackable. We have the ability to do genomic sequencing almost in real-time to see what strains or lineages are circulating, he said.

So far, mostcases on the U.S. West Coast are linked to a strainfirst identified in Washington state. It may have come from a man who had been in Wuhan, China, the virus epicenter, and returned home on Jan. 15. It is only three mutations away from the original Wuhan strain, according to work done early in the outbreakby Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutch, a medical research center in Seattle.

On the East Coast there are several strains, including the one from Washington and others that appear to have made their way from China to Europe and then to New York and beyond, Chiu said.

Death rate soars in New Orleans coronavirus 'disaster' that could define city for generations

Charles Chiu, MD, PhD, director of the UCSF-Abbott Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center, inserts a tray of Universal Transport Medium (UTM) or vials for the collection, transport, maintenance and long term freeze storage of viruses into a Biomatrix sorter that the Chiu Lab will be using, starting Monday to study the genes of the Coronavirus.(Photo: Susan Merrell/UCSF)

This isnt the first time scientists have scrambled to do genetic analysis of a virus in the midst of an epidemic. They did it with Ebola, Zika and West Nile, but nobodyoutside the scientific community paid much attention.

This is the first time phylogenetic trees have been all over Twitter, said Kristian Andersen, a professor at Scripps Research, a nonprofit biomedical science research facility in La Jolla, California, speaking of the diagrams that show the evolutionary relationships between different strains of an organism.

The maps are available on NextStrain, an online resource for scientists that uses data from academic, independent and government laboratories all over the world to visually track the genomics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It currently represents genetic sequences of strains from 36 countries on six continents.

While the maps are fun, they can also be little dangerous said Andersen. The trees showing the evolution of the virus are complex and its difficult even for experts to draw conclusions from them.

Remember, were seeing a very small glimpse into the much larger pandemic. We have half a million described cases right now but maybe 1,000 genomes sequenced. So there are a lot of lineages were missing, hesaid.

The basics on the coronavirus: What you need to know as the US becomes the new epicenter of COVID-19

COVID-19 hitspeople differently, with some feeling only slightly under the weather for a day, others flat on their backs sick for two weeks and about 15% hospitalized. Currently, an estimated1% of those infected die. The rate varies greatly by country and experts say it is likely tied to testing rates rather than actual mortality.

Chiu says it appears unlikely the differences are related to people being infected withdifferent strains of the virus.

The current virus strains are still fundamentally very similar to each other, he said.

The COVID-19 virus does not mutate very fast. It does so eightto 10 times more slowly than the influenza virus, said Anderson, making its evolution rate similar to other coronaviruses such asSevere Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

Its also not expected tospontaneously evolve into a form more deadly than it already is to humans. The SARS-CoV-2 is so good at transmitting itself between human hosts,said Andersen,it is under no evolutionary pressure to evolve.

Chius analysis shows Californias strict shelter in place efforts appear to beworking.

Over half of the 50 SARS-CoV-2 virus genomes his San Francisco-based lab sequenced in the past two weeks are associated with travel from outside the state. Another 30% are associated with health care workers and families of people who have the virus.

Only 20% are coming from within the community. Its not circulating widely, he said.

Thats fantastic news, he said, indicating the virus has not been able to gain aserious foothold because of social distancing.

It's like a wildfire, Chiu said. A few sparks might fly off the fire and land in the grass and start new fires. But if the main fire is doused and itsembers stomped out, you can kill offan entire strain.In California, Chiu sees a lot of sparks hitting the ground, most coming from Washington,but they're quickly being put out.

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An example wasa small cluster of cases in Solano County, northeast of San Francisco. Chius team did a genetic analysis of the virus that infected patients there and found it was most closely related to a strain from China.

At the same time, his lab was sequencing a small cluster of cases in the city of Santa Clara in Silicon Valley. They discovered the patients there had the same strain as those in Solano County. Chiu believes someone in that cluster had contact with a traveler who recently returned from Asia.

This is probably an example of a spark that began in Santa Clara, may have gone to Solano County but then was halted, he said.

The virus, he said, can be stopped.

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China is an unknown

So far researchers dont have a lot of information about the genomics of the virus inside China beyond the fact that it first appeared in the city of Wuhan sometime between mid-November and mid-December.

The viruss initial sequence was published on Jan. 10 by professor Yong-Zhen Zhang at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center. But Chiu says scientists dont know if there was justone strain circulating in China or more.

It may be that they havent sequenced many cases or it may be for political reasons they havent been made available, said Chiu. Its difficult to interpret the data because were missing all these early strains.

Researchers in the United Kingdom who sequenced the genomes of viruses found in travelers from Guangdong in south China found those patients strains spanned the gamut of strains circulating worldwide.

That could mean several of the strains were seeing outside of China first evolved there from the original strain, or that there are multiple lines of infection. Its very hard to know, said Chiu.

There's a new symptom of coronavirus, docs say: Sudden loss of smell or taste

While there remain many questions about the trajectory of the COVID-19 disease outbreak, one thing is broadly accepted in the scientific community: Thevirus was not created in a lab but naturally evolved in an animal host.

SARS-CoV-2s genomic molecular structure thinkthe backbone of the virus is closest to a coronavirus found in bats. Parts of its structure also resemble a virus found in scaly anteaters, according to a paper published earlier this month in the journal Nature Medicine.

Someone manufacturing a virus targetingpeople would have started with one that attacked humans, wrote National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collinsin an editorial that accompanied the paper.

Andersen was lead author on the paper. He said it could have been a one-time occurrence.

Its possible it was a single event, from a single animal to a single human, and spread from there.

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8 strains of the coronavirus are circling the globe. Here's what clues they're giving scientists. - USA TODAY

Since then-President Obamas announcement in early 2015, precision medicine has been an even bigger buzzword in medical research. Its one of those terms you hear frequently, but what exactly is it? And what makes it so important for future health care?

Its both, but definitely not average. The term replaces the older description, personalized medicine. Although they mean roughly the same thing, precision medicine is the preferred term for developing treatment and preventive medicine for individuals based on genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors. In translation: instead of a one-size-fits-all approach for an average patient, the precision approach looks at individual variability when mapping out the treatment plan that has the best chance of success. Doctors base the drug choices on the individual patients genetics.

So, apart from maximizing success, what makes precision medicine so important?

Consider cancer, one of the short-term goals outlined in Mr. Obamas 2015 initiative. Characterizing a patients cancer helps clinicians design an effective treatment plan. Tissue profiling reveals cell markers that are useful when choosing chemotherapeutic drugs. For example, breast cancers that overexpress the HER2 receptor respond very well to trastuzumab (Herceptin) treatment, whereas those with abundant estrogen receptors respond better to hormone therapy. This kind of approach can also customize treatment for other conditions.

How do doctors know what works?

Omics is shorthand for a suite of biotechnologies devoted to uncovering the secrets of the genome (DNA), the proteome (proteins), the transcriptome (how genes translate into proteins) and more. Essentially, omics researchers study the basic machinery of the cell and how growth, aging, disease and nutrition affect it. These technologies underpin most research into precision medicine. By studying thousands of individuals, researchers build a picture of health, disease and risk.

Cataloging the genomic information from thousands of individuals in large population cohorts, and then matching it up with health, environmental and lifestyle records shows genes associated with specific diseases. In tumors, it shows how sensitive they are to chemotherapy.

Omics technology is advancing very rapidly and generating vast amounts of data. Sequencing a persons genome first took almost 10 years and $3 billion; current next generation sequencing (NGS) instruments will whiz through around 18,000 individuals or more in a year. Proteomics technology is catching up rapidly.

One genome generates around 780 MB of data out of around 30 terabytes of raw NGS data; typical proteome datasets run into many gigabytes in size. Studying thousands of individuals for population studies generates terabytes of data approximately 40, according to one article. And that takes a lot of processing power to analyze for clinically relevant results more than can be done manually, so biomathematicians develop algorithms and other software tools to tease the answers from the digital soup. Bioinformatics for storing and accessing electronic health records is vital for precision medicine research. Furthermore, IT systems such as the Northrop Grumman-supported MedDRA initiative encode health information consistently ensure that data banks can talk to each other, with advances in cybersecurity ensuring patient privacy despite the cross talk.

Yes. Just think of where all that data comes from.

Population studies are as big as they sound; the Million Veteran Program collects biosamples from U.S. veterans, around 400,000 so far. It aims to generate omics data that in conjunction with information on health, lifestyle and environment will translate into clinical practice. Thats a lot of samples to handle, store and analyze.

Furthermore, microelectronics advances mean that omics instruments handle more samples at a faster rate. Next-generation sequencers such as the Illumina HiSeq and the Thermo Fisher Ion Torrent use chip-based and semiconductor technology to decode genomic materials. A simple flash of fluorescence or change in pH zaps DNA base pair information into a digital format much faster than old-school gel-based Sanger sequencing.

In order to exploit the speed of these tools, robotic handling manages everything from sample aliquots for biobank storage, to 384-well plate assay wrangling. Their speed and automation bring faster results with fewer errors.

Robotic or automated workflows are also important for nanotechnology and microfluidics where the miniaturization that reduces instrument footprint and sample volume also precludes manual input. Even though they will benefit from precision medicine, our clumsy fingers and thumbs are not as welcome in the lab as they once were.

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Precision Medicine, Nanotechnology and the Rise of the Robot Now. Powered by - Now. Powered by Northrop Grumman.

Transgenic cropshave been planted in different countries for over twenty years, starting from 1996. About 191.7 million hectares were planted in 2018 to transgenic crops with high market value, such asherbicide tolerant soybeans,maize,cotton, andcanola; insect resistant maize, cotton, potato, andrice; and virus resistant squash and papaya. Withgenetic engineering, more than one trait can be incorporated or stacked into a plant. Transgenic crops with combinedtraitsare also available commercially.

To date, commercial GM crops have delivered benefits in crop production, but there are also a number of products in the pipeline that will make more direct contributions to food quality, environmental benefits, pharmaceutical production, and non-food crops.

Examples of these products include triple stack trait biotech rice with better yield amidst abiotic stresses, biotech chestnut tree with resistance to chestnut blight, biotech citrus greening resistant citrus, potato enriched with beta carotene, biofortified sorghum, bacterial (Xanthomonas) wilt resistant banana, Bunchytop virus resistant banana, insect resistantwheat, among others.

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Next-generation GMO crops poised to make major contributions to sustainable farming and medicine - Genetic Literacy Project